moments before sunrise at Art of Living's new International Center at Boone, North Carolina

by Birjoo Vaishnav
Shiva has descended.
Once in a while
You get lucky enough
To meet and greet a thousand stars
To trek the trails in the hillside forest
To gaze into the horizon with mountains wide and far…
Once in a while
You get lucky enough
To be soaked in joyous silence
To drench in the ocean of devotion
To sing and dance with and within the Nata-raj!
Once in a while
You get lucky enough
To move from movement to stillness,
To recognise and acknowledge
The truth of life!
Once in a while
You get lucky enough
To be in the right place at the right time
To raft in the river of grace
To be in undivided ecstasy
Once in a while
You get lucky enough
To soak in the drizzle of blessings
To see the Shiva descend
To celebrate with hollow and empty people
filled with love in their heart
Once in a while
you get lucky enough
To see Heavenly Mountain
turn into a Himalayan sight
Once in a while
you get lucky enough
To realize how precious a gift it is
To be here, to be Now
When you do, something
tells you from deep inside…
that this is the boon, the gift
the magical glmpse of Shiva’s descent
on the slopes of the Heavenly highs…
not somewhere too far,
but right here, now, in the silent corner of your heart!
Come…celebrate in the heaven inside… here, now

Dr. Birjoo Vaishnav is a physicist by profession teaching at Georgia Southern, Statesboro GA and can be found in Boone ashram every other weekend. The Mahashivaratri Retreat was not a silence program, but just a weekend of Mahakriya, Mahasatsang, Mahameditation, Maha everything, knowledge discussions, processes…in words of a veteran Art of Living teacher who came to the retreat-” I have even taught some of these processes but the impact, the silence it created here was just amazing. This retreat was a very special gift!”